What is your Favorite Lead Gen Strategy?

Question

Hi everyone!

I'm a real estate in Utah, and I'd love to get feedback on some of the popular lead generation methods that agents use to find new clients. These are some of the methods that I've been considering:

-Cold-calling FSBOs and expired listings

-Door hangers

-Social media marketing

-Mailers

-Cold calling in general

-Establishing a relationship with a builder

-Door knocking

-Contacting your sphere of influence

-Attending networking events

I know that all of these methods can work wonderfully for different people in different places, and that many agents use a combination of multiple techniques. Mainly, I'd like to hear personal stories about what has worked for you as an agent and the pros/cons of different approaches you've taken for finding new business.

Thanks so much in advance!

Jonathan Greene · Answer

@Shazia Chiu, those are all tried and true methods over a long-term, but many of them are much more difficult to convert than most think (cold calling of any type, door knocking). Door hangers need to be about something specific, your UVP, to even have a chance at generating interest. Social media is great when done properly, but the best social media for real estate strategies come from advertising your own business. So if you are new, it's hard to get social running smooth before your actual business. Mailers can only work with consistency and a dedicated farm area. Most people give up after 2 months, but you really need 6-8 months hitting the same farm with diverse material to be successful.

You should read The 7 Levels of Communication by Michael Maher and what you will find is that your most valuable asset for your whole career, and on your list, is your Sphere of Influence. They already know, like and trust you and that is what you want from your clients. Ask each friend if they know a lender, home inspector, etc. instead of asking for buyer and seller referrals in the beginning. See what you can do for them, who you can connect them with - give to get. I hope this helps.

Ray Lai · Answer

@Shazia Chiu

Since you are extroverted, I thought this door-knocking post from Ken Min would help you. It made me want to door knock as an extrovert lol:

"First, I knew it was a pre-foreclosure so I knew there would be a lot of emotion involved. My first goal was to defuse the emotion. I would knock, and say that I was buying houses in the neighborhood and offering a variety of ways to buy the house.

That would usually pique their interest. Normally, they would say "what do you mean by that", which is a perfect opener for the various techniques I use (Subject, To, Wrap, Lease Option, etc) and that it didn't require fixing up the house or house "showings". I told them I am not a real estate agent so those fees could be saved. That would usually get me in the door if they were inclined to talk.

Once I was at the dinner table talking, I'd ask them what their goals are. (Solution selling.) I'd let them talk until they were finished. I'd write down on my pad what seemed to be their key points. It showed I was listening.

I would then ask them how much they thought the house would sell for. Then I would ask how much the principal is. That ALWAYS confused them. Which is good. They didn't know if I knew they were behind on their mortgage and weren't sure of the number.

So, I would simply take my pad and say "let's figure it out". I would write down principal, I'd ask if that included taxes, "does that include insurance", do you have an HOA, is there a second loan on the house, a HELOC or any unpaid child support liens, and then I would say, very casually "about how much will it take to bring the house current?, does that include legal fees? On rare occasion, someone would say "the loan is current" so I put down zero for that number without questioning them. With the others, I would put in the number (arrears) which meant that we all knew the house was in pre-foreclosure without having to use that nasty, emotional word.

I would then ask if a sale date had been set. I already knew the answer. Sometimes they did not know because they had never read the foreclosure notice. (Too afraid of the obvious.) I would tell them that there is always a solution, I had seven solutions available to me at the time, but not all solutions are equal. I would explain the pluses and minuses of each and then ask them which one I could help them with. More often than not, it was to give them "walking money", do a Subject To and take over their loan and give them 30 days to move. I would bring the loan current and that would help with their credit.

Door knocking pre-foreclosures works if you treat them as though they are people, and they are going through a tough time. Few people are in foreclosure by choice. I made a LOT of money using that technique (door knocking) along with my "Seven Ways To Avoid Foreclosure" letter that I posted elsewhere at BP a few months ago."

Tobias Falzone · Answer

Bad real estate advice will cost people in your network a lot of money. Don't feel like you are annoying people, you are helping them!  If you are looking for investor clients, REIA meetings are a great place to start.  You can also look at transactions in your area and pull records for flippers and other non-owner occupied investment properties and target those owners directly through phone or mail.

ROI for Agent marketing is a little different than it is for finding off market deals.  The key I think is focusing on a ver small area first to get a foothold in the market and then consistently marketing.  One agent in an area I used to live in would pay someone to drop a large calendar page every month with the real estate agent's contact info at the top.  these efforts snowball over time.  You won't see results immediately because on average it takes something like 7 interactions with a person or company before someone will consider using their services.

Jonathan Greene · Answer

My pleasure @Shazia Chiu - get that book and you will see how to develop your sphere and mindset around networking the right way. For your sphere always see who you can connect them with, maybe they need an electrician rec or a lender for a refinance. Once you give, they give. I never push for referrals, but the best way to get someone to ask you about your job instead of you bringing it up is to ask them how their work is going first. Best of luck!

Ray Lai · Answer

@Shazia Chiu

It's great that you are learning from other people's experiences, but remember that most people on BP are in different regions and market responses are different based on geography/demographics and you need to account for that. The only way of knowing is to do split-testing. You did your homework and came up with options, now narrow it down to 3 to 5 based on what appeals to your own strengths and weaknesses. Then track the cost per mini-campaign and the response rates and conversion rates. Once you compare your strategies, the one that is the most efficient you should dig down and invest in.

Most people on BP have mediocre results with door-knocking but a few people swear by it. It makes a big difference your geographical area and your personality. For example, if you are in an area where people are very private and have "trespassers will be shot signs" they may not take kindly to solicitors (which is what you are as a cold caller / door knocker). If you are great with people and enjoy talking to people (extrovert) then your choice of strategy would be different than an introvert would rather limit the amount of time spent talking with people. They would focus more on a funnel strategy, perhaps using a direct mail campaign combined with a really well-designed landing page so that their leads are higher probability for conversion as they do not like speaking with people as much.

Does that make sense?

I'm a huge extrovert and enjoy talking to people so my direct mail has my personal number as I don't mind fielding calls. If I was an introvert that disliked talking to people, I'd use a landing page instead. You could combine both strategies and have a phone number *and* a URL - that would really maximize your responses as some people prefer calling and some prefer going to a webpage to read more. Even if they don't call, with a webpage you can use analytics to track who visited without calling.

Rebecca Belnap · Answer

@Shazia Chiu Cold calling will get you some business, but it is very hard and burns you out.  Same with door knocking.  You want to get to warm calling as fast as possible.  This would be calling people who you know have an interest, not just in buying or selling, but buying or selling with you.  To do that you really need marketing.  Send out info to friends, family, and neighbors.  Find expensive apartment complexes and send postcards at least monthly.  That can get expensive, so co-brand with a lender.  Learn to really listen to your clients so you know what they what.  Help them get to their dreams.

Understand that you have to stay in their mind.  Understand that no one will trust you until the 3rd to 10th time you have contacted them.  If you only contact a person once you are wasting your time and theirs.  Have good CRM software that breaks up clients into categories and sends them info about their interests regularly.  Call with something useful to say.  Build a network of people who may not be ready today, but know that when they are ready, they would be crazy not to use you.

Shazia Chiu · Answer

@Tobias Falzone thank you for the encouragement! A REIA meeting is where I met my mentor and the person who was my agent before I got licensed--I just attended one last week and realized how much I've been missing out! I like your point about focusing on a small area first; that makes a lot of sense. I think it'd be overwhelming to tackle a large area, anyway. Thanks again for the tips!

@Rebecca Belnap nice to see another Utah face here :) thank you for your insights. Contacting cold freaks me out; it's something that I'm willing to do but I don't enjoy it. What I love doing is going to events, meeting people one-on-one, and networking. I am trying to develop strategies that will play to those strengths, but I understand that I might need to combine several strategies for a viable marketing plan. Something interesting I've discovered is that I have a large network, but I don't have numbers or emails for most of the people I know--just social media profiles! So I need to get to work on finding the best way to contact them. Thanks again for your tips about marketing, making calls and building a network. I really appreciate it!

@Ray Lai that is a good point about the demographic differences among BP users. I really don't like unsolicited calls from strangers/seeing people I don't know at my front door, so perhaps I should take that as a hint with my own marketing strategy :) I'm a big extrovert as well, and I really enjoy meeting people/being in front of people, so strategies that involve in-person communication will probably be best for me. I like your tip about tweaking strategies so that they match your personality type--that's very helpful!

Thank you all, again!

Mary Williams · Answer

@Ray Lai thank you! I'm a newbie to BP and these are Very helpful details! :)

@Ken Min thank you for sharing your best practice!

Tobias Falzone · Answer

@Jeffrey Grieshop You pull public records on transactions - you look for houses bought and then sold within a past year.  Each area is a little different for pulling records, but you will see the buyer names/entities to try and contact.  You will also see what areas they are most active in and the house types they buy.  Its great real life info that can be used to identify your own potential flips or buyers for wholesaling.

Shazia Chiu · Answer

Okay, this might be a monster comment, but I want to respond to everyone--I appreciate all of you taking time out of your busy days to give me some insight on this!

@Adam M. thank you for teaching me a bit about Zillow and the potential costs and benefits of using it. I know some agents have had incredible success with that platform, so with the right systems in place, I'm sure it's a lucrative advertising option. I have to admit I haven't looked into it much because I've been under the impression that it's quite expensive, but it's worth doing some more research. Thanks again!

@Ray Lai Thank you for sharing that door-knocking post, that is an interesting approach. I think that you always have to go into any form of lead gen with the right mindset (i.e., focusing on people and relationships, not trying to sell directly) in order to achieve the best results, especially in situations where you're approaching people you don't know. I do a lot of experiential marketing (staffing for events, conventions, fairs, etc.), so I'm generally comfortable talking to other people. The details in this article about his approach are very helpful--thanks for posting it here!

@Yuki Inui So fun to see you on BP! I think I missed the sales meeting where you and Sam went over your strategy :( but I've seen your website and I'm so impressed with how sleek and informative it is! I agree with you about cold calling, it's something I could do if I forced myself but I am not a natural salesperson. However, one of my strengths is the value that I place on my relationships with other people; that drives me to go above and beyond when it comes to providing good service. I think you have to show that kind of dedication to service while working with investor clients (or any client, really). I think it's neat that you and Sam have a niche in newer properties; that is a great way to stand out, and I'm sure it's helpful for attracting new investors who want a safe and solid investment. If I had an investment niche, it'd properly be older multi-family homes, since that's the bulk of what we've bought! I think you and Sam have done an amazing job of building a relationship-focused business where people feel valued. It's great that you go the extra mile to connect your clients with other professionals so that all of their real estate needs are met. Also, we should definitely meet up some time for lunch! It's always fun to see you at the office :)

Thanks again, everyone--I'm so glad that I'm taking more time to dive into the BP community!

What is your Favorite Lead Gen Strategy?

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